Thursday, December 27, 2007

The Age of Manhood

I've recently been pondering the question, when does a boy become a man? Three things started this thinking, which I will describe below. Feel free to answer the (redone) poll to the right.

1. I recently heard a preacher say that "Adolescence" is not a Biblical term. He sited 1 Cor 13:11 where Paul only refers to 2 stages of growth childhood and adulthood (he says man in the verse but you know what I mean there's no adolescence.) The preacher further states that we in America, or the western world, made that term up. HHhhhmmmm...

2. I was reading an article in an online Hockey magazine and the writer referred the 17-18 year old players that would be going to the World Junior Championships as...boys. He was referring to how tough the media was on them and said something like, "remember these are just boys." I thought really? Huh....

3. I was reading a review on a book, I forget which one, but the reviewer described the fictional book as a beautiful picture of passing from "adolescence" to manhood at the ripe age of 34! I'm serious. And it seemed the reviewer had no problem with this, so I commented on the website asking when he thought the age of manhood was. He replied by saying something like, "whenever someone of the male persuasion gets married and has kids or turns 30; whichever comes first." Wow...

So I pose the question to you that come to this blog (which looks like it's getting quite a bit of traffic lately ;) Go ahead and answer the poll to the right and/or comment on this post. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting thoughts PZ...my understanding is that becoming a man is something that can happen at any age. As a high school senior teacher I see many men turn from 17-18 throughout the year. What I've noticed is that in no way is there a correlation between a specific age and manhood. Many of my students are certainly not men when they have becom an "adult". Conversely many of my students are "men" the day I meet them...they have the maturity, confidence, and God-centered attitude that defines masulinity. I also know plenty of "old" men who have yet to truly become men (many of these are unfortunately my students fathers).

With all that being said it would be much easier to answer this question if we could agree on what it means to be a man. Do any of you think you have a tangible definition of manhood?

CoachZ said...

Ok I clarified the question a bit more...hopefully that helps.

When should we expect a boy to be a man...responsible, leader, etc etc? Many men stay boys when they should be men, when is it that we should expect a male to be a man?

brokenman said...

Good question, Z. One I deal with daily! I think Nesp is right about a good definition...this whole "delayed adolescence" thing bugs me, but I think it's totally predictable/understandable. When boys don't see it modeled, don't have it taught to them, and always have a safety net, how can they possibly grow into men?

x

CoachZ said...

X
I'm wityou. I think part of the equation on top of modeling and teaching and not having a safety net is also to EXPECT them to be men.

Maybe the expectation comes in phases? A little bit at 13 more at 18 even more at 21 so on and so forth...

At least that's what i'm thinking right now.